Climate Change Deniers

Climate Change Deniers, also known as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) Deniers, refers to individuals or groups who disagree with the global scientific consensus that emissions of man-made CO2 significantly enhance the natural atmospheric greenhouse effect. Often, their advocacy is funded by industry groups and corporations — sometimes disclosed, but more often not.

The use of the term "global warming skeptic" is falling into disuse.[1] According to Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, "We don't call them skeptics, because they are not putting forward alternatives ideas and having them tested in peer review journals. They basically deny this problem."[2]

Evolution of Meaning

Originally denoted "climate change skeptics" or "anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming skeptics", the term referred to those who are as yet unconvinced by evidence that emissions of man-made CO2 significantly enhance the natural atmospheric greenhouse effect. But the accumulation of evidence led to a near-total scientific consensus,[3][4] making the word "skeptic" a misnomer and "a black eye on true skeptics".[5]

Since then the more accurate term denier has become universally used.

Climate Change Denial Arguments

Hundreds of arguments were made by deniers attempting to refute the scientific consensus on global warming.[6] All of these arguments have been refuted by climate scientists, as can be seen at sites such as SkepticalScience.com.

To summarise the situation, Clive Hamilton, in his book Scorcher, says that one can find the following arguments in the various papers promoted by climate change deniers:

There is no evidence of global warming.

If there is evidence of global warming, then it is not due to human activity.

If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, then it is not going to be damaging.

If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, and it is going to be damaging, then the costs of avoiding it are too high, so we should do nothing.

Chris Mooney, "Some Like It Hot,"Mother Jones, May/June 2005: "Forty public policy groups have this in common: They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil.

Stefan Rahmstorf, "The Climate Skeptics, Weather catastrophes and climate change The state of science, Munich Re, undated. (Stefan is a member of the IPCC, he disputes the arguements of climate skeptics in this article.)

Joel Achenbach, "The Tempest: As evidence mounts that humans are causing dangerous changes in Earth's climate, a handful of skeptics are providing some serious blowback", The Washington Post Magazine, May 28, 2006.